Telling omissions in Times coverage of recent anti-GE protests and conference in Boston.

Other contributors have pointed out how the local papers did not do a good job of covering the protests and speeches at Biodevastation 2000, which took place recently in Boston in conjunction with an industry-sponsored event.

Just as telling was the coverage of the event by the New York Times, the most influential newspaper in this country.

Although there was a fairly substantial article about the conference, it made a number of interesting omissions and shadings of fact.

Perhaps the most important was the assertion made by the writer that, in contrast to Europeans, Americans have mostly accepted genetically-modified food without complaint.

Of course, the truth, as most of us know, is that Americans have done nothing of the sort; we've had such products brought to market with little or no publicity of potential health and environmental impact, the lack of adequate testing and safety regulations, their control by multinational corporations.

Most Americans don't even know that 60% of our grain, for example, is now genetically-modified. And without labeling requirements, they never will, unless those of us interested in this issue continue to educate and inform those around us.

That was one of the most inspiring and hopeful results of Biodevastation 2000 for me, and for others, and it's a shame the major news media once again let us down in their coverage.